Enantioselective catalysts are desirable for producing high value added enantiopure chemicals. Examples of applications of enantiopure chemicals are as pharmaceutical chemicals and as agricultural chemicals. Production of pharmaceutical chemicals or that of agricultural chemicals tends to involve carbon-carbon, carbon-heteroatom, and/or carbon-hydrogen bond forming reactions. Enantiopure chemicals may be alternately described as optically active, or as right or left rotation forms, or as chiral. Enantiopure chemicals possess the characteristic that they have a 3 dimensional handedness and are substantially pure. In addition, enantiopure chemicals can be at least one of the other of two forms that are not mirror images of each other.
The use of existing transition metal complexes as catalysts, for mediating carbon-carbon, carbon-heteroatom, and carbon-hydrogen bond forming reaction, is limited for commercial applications. The limited commercial use is attributed to the existing transition metal complexes being substitution labile, having poor solubility in organic solvents, or further having low enantioselectivity. Therefore, there remains a need for substitution inert transition metal complexes with activity as enantioselective catalysts for carbon-carbon, carbon-heteroatom, and carbon-hydrogen bond forming reactions that are suitable for commercial/industrial applications.